Organophosphorus insecticide and growth regulator namely Ethephon (2-chloroethylphosphonic acid) are widely used as a ripening process accelerator and a cultivation duration inhibitor. Pomegranate extract (PPE) has recently been taken into consideration due to its pharmacological effects especially those associated with renal diseases. Thus, this study aims to investigate the possible protective effect of PPE against ethephon-induced nephrotoxicity in rats. In this study four groups of adult male rats were divided into control group, PPE 400 mg/kg group, Ethephon 250 mg/kg group, and finally, PPE + Ethephon group (treated with the same dose of PPE group and Ethephon group). In the current study, kidney function parameters (KIM-1, creatinine, and urea) along with oxidative stress markers, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and nuclear factor erythroid 2–related factor 2 (Nrf2), glutathione (GSH) and its correlated enzymes, nitric oxide (NO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and catalase (CAT) were estimated. Additionally, mediators of renal inflammation: interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) were measured. Apoptotic biomarkers (Bax, caspase 3, and Bcl2) in addition to renal histopathological data were also investigated. Results revealed that Ethephon elicited a significant increase in oxidation markers and reduced antioxidant levels, accompanied by oxidative renal tissue injury. Consequently, administration of Ethephon was reported to provoke secretion of the pro-inflammatory mediators. Moreover, histopathological results showed that deformities in the renal tissues were noticed which is attributed to Ethephon exposure. Interestingly, co-administration of PPE and Ethephon resulted in significantly ameliorated the biochemical and histopathological alterations produced by Ethephon. Current results propose the potential effect of PPE in the protection of renal tissue from Ethephon induced nephrotoxicity in rats.
The inhibitory effect of acetone, ethanol, and aqueous extracts of ten medicinal plants on β-lactamase from Staphylococcus sciuri and Klebsiella pneumoniae was investigated in vitro by starch-iodine agar plate method. The results revealed the success of starch-iodine method for the detection of the inhibition of β-lactamase activity by the various extracts of each individual plant. The acetone extracts of Catharanthus roseus, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and Schinus terebinthifolius induced an inhibitory effect on β-lactamase from Staphylococcus sciuri. On the other hand, acetone extracts from only Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and Schinus
... Show MoreRobot manipulator is a multi-input multi-output system with high complex nonlinear dynamics, requiring an advanced controller in order to track a specific trajectory. In this work, forward and inverse kinematics are presented based on Denavit Hartenberg notation to convert the end effector planned path from cartesian space to joint space and vice versa where a cubic spline interpolation is used for trajectory segments to ensure the continuity in velocity and acceleration. Also, the derived mathematical dynamic model is based on Eular Lagrange energy method to contain the effect of friction and disturbance torques beside the inertia and Coriolis effect. Two types of controller are applied ; the nonlinear computed torque control (CTC
... Show MoreThe main objective of the present work is to find a method increases the efficiency of the airfoil that is used for blade in wind turbine, wing in aircraft, propeller and helicopter (like NACA 4412). By overcoming the separation of flow at high angle of attacks, a slotted airfoil had been used and solved numerically through connecting the pressure side in the bottom surface with the suction side in the top surface of the airfoil to energize the separated flow. Slot exit, width and slope were considered as a parameters of slot configuration to determine the effective design of consideration. Reynolds number was taken as [1.6 x106 ] and the angle of attacks were ranged from (0o - 20o ). The numerical solution with Ansys Fluent commercial prog
... Show MoreThis paper presents designing an adaptive state feedback controller (ASFC) for a magnetic levitation system (MLS), which is an unstable system and has high nonlinearity and represents a challenging control problem. First, a nonadaptive state feedback controller (SFC) is designed by linearization about a selected equilibrium point and designing a SFC by pole-placement method to achieve maximum overshoot of 1.5% and settling time of 1s (5% criterion). When the operating point changes, the designed controller can no longer achieve the design specifications, since it is designed based on a linearization about a different operating point. This gives rise to utilizing the adaptive control scheme to parameterize the state feedback controll
... Show MoreSeveral attempts have been made to modify the quasi-Newton condition in order to obtain rapid convergence with complete properties (symmetric and positive definite) of the inverse of Hessian matrix (second derivative of the objective function). There are many unconstrained optimization methods that do not generate positive definiteness of the inverse of Hessian matrix. One of those methods is the symmetric rank 1( H-version) update (SR1 update), where this update satisfies the quasi-Newton condition and the symmetric property of inverse of Hessian matrix, but does not preserve the positive definite property of the inverse of Hessian matrix where the initial inverse of Hessian matrix is positive definiteness. The positive definite prope
... Show MoreReliability is an essential measure and important component of all power system planning and operation procedures. It is one of the key design factors when designing complex, critical and expensive systems. This paper presents a fuzzy logic approach for reliability improvement planning purposes. Evaluating the reliability of the complex and large planned Iraqi super grid ;as Al- Khairat generating station with its tie set is intended to be compact to that grid; and determination of the given reliability improvement project are the major goals of the paper. Results show that the Iraqi super grid reliability is improved by 9.64%. In the proposed technique, fuzzy set theory is used to include imprecise indices of different components in normal
... Show MoreResearchers are interested in the issue of children abuse and they look for its cause in the past and present. Their interest is limited to identifying penal liability which is caused by children abuse away from focusing on civil liability. So, the study is going to clarify the parents' responsibility for children abuse rather than civil liability of the medic in case he wouldn’t notify the authorities about the case according to the American law rules and the attitude of Iraqi law rather than some judicial application of civil cases that were exposed to American judiciary concerning children abuse.
In this study, the modified Rayleigh-Ritz method and Fourier series are used to determine the thermal buckling behavior of laminated composite thin plates with a general elastic boundary condition applied to in-plane uniform temperature distribution depending upon classical laminated plate theory(CLPT). A generalized procedure solution is developed for the Rayleigh-Ritz method combined with the synthetic spring technique. The transverse displacement of the orthotropic rectangular plates is not a different term as a new shape expansion of trigonometric series. In this solution approach, the plate transverse deflection and rotation due to bending are developed into principle Fourier series with a sufficient smoothness auxi
... Show MoreThe influence of Cr3+ doping on the ground state properties of SrTiO 3 perovskite was evaluated using GGA-PBE approximation. Computational modeling results infered an agreement with the previously published literature. The modification of electronic structure and optical properties due to Cr3+ introducing into SrTiO 3 were investigated. Structural parameters assumed that Cr3+ doping alters the electronic structures of SrTiO 3 by shifting the conduction band through lower energies for the Sr and Ti sites. Besides, results showed that the band gap was reduced by approximately 50% when presenting one Cr3+ atom into the SrTiO 3 system and particularly positioned at Sr sites. Interestingly, substituting Ti site by Cr3+ led to eliminating the ban
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